Graphing the Clusters:

Information About Clusters:

Which Menu Items Should I Order?:

While Dairy Queen is most known for their perfect swirls of soft-serve ice cream, many locations have a full fast food menu. In my graph and tables above, all 42 menu items offered at Dairy Queen across the country are grouped together into five different clusters based on their total calories and total fat. The first cluster contains 14 menu items, which are listed under “Average for Dairy Queen” This is labeled this way because these menu items have an average of 568.5714 calories per serving, and 30.64 grams of fat, which is right in the middle for these five groups. If you find yourself at a Dairy Queen and want to feel full and don’t mind consuming a bunch of calories and fat, choosing an item from this list would be a good idea. The second cluster is labeled “On the Richer Side” and these menu items contain an average of 812.5 calories and 49 grams of total fat. These four items contain the second-highest average amount of calories and fat for Dairy Queen. So, if you are at Dairy Queen, and want to have a large meal that is very satisfying, these four items may be a good choice. The third cluster also contains four items, which have an average of 1,085 calories, and 67 grams of total fat. This is labeled “Most Fatty/Calorie Dense Items” because these four items are the items with the highest calories and fat that DQ offers. So, if you plan on ordering any of these four items, I would be informed that you are consuming a lot of fat and a lot of calories. The fourth Cluster is labeled “lower calorie and fat food items” because it contains some of the least rich items on the menu. These items have an average of 340.5556 calories and only 17.611 grams of total fat. These 18 items would be a good choice for anyone who is looking to have a lighter meal and still feel satisfied after eating it. The fifth and final Category is labeled “The Few Low Calorie/Fat Items” and contains the two salads that Dairy Queen has to offer. These two salads have an average of 85 calories and only 1 gram of fat. So, if you are on a diet or want a small snack while at Dairy Queen, these two options are perfect for you.

What Does This Mean:

Above one can look at the relationship between each of the seven variables that are most important for looking at the health of the food that you are eating. These components are calories, total fat, protein, cholesterol, sodium, total carbs, and sugar. While this graph is a lot to look at, it allows you to focus on two of the variables that matter most to you. For example, if you are most interested in sugar, you can see that almost all of the food items contain the same amount of sugar, so this variable may not be that interesting because it does not change much depending on which food item. Looking at this graph is why total fat and calories are highlighted in the graph above. It is clear that these two have a very high positive linear correlation and the clusters are clearly separated from one another.

Graphing The Clusters:

Describing the Clusters:

Which Menu Items Should I Order?:

When someone thinks of American food, McDonald’s is immediately brought to mind. The classic burger and fries, ice cream cone, and chicken nuggets were all perfected by McDonald’s. Almost everyone finds themselves at a Mcdonald’s at some point in their lives, so this diagram and tables should help to make an informed decision when ordering at McDonald’s. The 57 menu items that can be found at McDonald’s are categorized into four different clusters based on calories and total fat. The 22 items in the first cluster labeled “Average for Mcdonalds” and displayed in the graph with the army green color have 714.5455 calories on average and 34.59 average grams of total fat. These items would be good choices for someone that is fairly hungry and wants a hearty meal that is not overly rich. The second cluster labeled “The Fattiest and Most Calorie Dense Item on the Menu, and is labeled in bright green on the graph only contains one item. This item is the 20-piece Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Tenders, which contains 2,430 calories, and 141 grams of fat. This item contains over the daily recommended calories for a person, and over four times the recommended amount of fat per day. So, this item is only recommended for someone looking to share the food with someone else, or someone who needs to consume a lot more calories and fat than the average person. The third cluster is labeled Least Fatty/Calorie dense items and contains 29 menu items. This cluster contains the least fatty items on the menu at McDonald’s, shown in blue on the graph. However, the numbers are still rather high. The average calories for this cluster are 383.79 and the average fat is 17.68. So, if you are looking for the least calorie-dense items at McDonald’s, this is the list for you. The final cluster is labeled High Calories and Fat and is shown in purple on the graph. This cluster contains five items and are the highest in fat and calories besides the one item in the second cluster. These items have an average of 1,444 calories and 79.6 grams of total fat. So, if you are looking for a large and very filling meal, these items are a good choice for you.

What Does This Mean:

While total fat and calories are singled out above, this graph can show you the relationship between seven different health variables that you may be interested in for your health at a fast food restaurant. You can look at the distribution of any of the factors in menu items at Mcdonald’s, for example, in cholesterol, you can see that the purple cluster has the lowest cholesterol than green, but then blue and red overlap quite a bit. You can also look at the relationship between two of the variables, for example, if you look at sugar, you can see that there does not appear to be a very strong association between sugar and any of the other variables, which is explained by the fact that most of the menu items are very low in sugar. Looking at total fat and calories, there appears to be a very linear positive relationship, which is why this relationship is highlighted above, but any of the other relationships can be explored here.

Graphing Our Clusters:

Defining The Clusters:

Which Menu Items Should I Order?:

Sonic is known for its comedic commercials and unique drive-in setup. However, they also are popular for their greasy fast food. In the graph and tables above, the 53 menu items offered at Sonic are split into three categories based on their calories and protein. The first cluster named, “Low Calorie and Protein” and labeled in green contains the 24 lowest-calorie and protein-rich items on the menu. These items would be a good choice for anyone who is looking for the lightest menu items from Sonic. This cluster has an average calorie count of 377.5 and an average of 18.66 grams of protein. The second cluster, labeled “Middle Calories and Protein” contains the 19 menu items at Sonic that contain the average amount of calories and protein that are offered at Sonic. These items would be a good choice for anyone wanting to leave Sonic to feel full and satisfied and eat plenty of protein to work to fulfill their daily requirement. This cluster is labeled in blue on the graph and has an average of 682.1 calories and 32.789 grams of protein on average. Finally, the last cluster is labeled in purple on the graph and is titled “Extremely Calorie and protein-rich. These 10 menu items are perfect for a customer who is looking to consume a lot of calories and protein. This cluster contains items with an average of 1,146 calories, and 47.6 grams of protein. Hopefully, this list helps you to decide which menu item you would like to order.

What Does This Mean:

Even though the above protein and calories are highlighted as descriptors of which menu items one should order, there is a lot more to consider when thinking about your diet. The graph above showcases the distribution of seven different health indicators. Looking at the distributions of the different clusters is very interesting because you can see that most of the clusters show one that is low, one medium, and one high cluster, except for sodium, and sugar. All the menu items appear to be around the same for sodium, and for sugar, there appears to be One group of items that are lower in sugar and two that are about medium in sugar. It is also interesting to note the relationships between each of the variables. It seems that almost every variable is related to one another in a positive way, with sugar and sodium being the least heavily correlated. Calories and protein are highlighted to be compared, because the distribution of protein is interesting with the first cluster being fairly spread out and in protein, then a giant spike of a lot of items being medium in protein, and then again, a fairly spread out distribution of items on the higher end. If you are interested in a more well-rounded description of the menu items at Sonic, this is a great place to start.

Graphing Our Clusters:

Defining The Clusters:

##   calories     sugar
## 1 250.9302  6.930233
## 2 883.4615 15.076923
## 3 538.1481 10.333333

Which Menu Items Should I Order?:

Although an order at Subway can be highly customized, the visualizations above take a look at 96 items on their menu. We can split them into three categories based on their calories and sugar content. The first group, “Mild Calorie, Mild Sugar Content”, is red on the scatterplot. It’s worth noting that, although these options might be good for someone aiming for a calorie-deficit, there is a lot of variabiltiy in the sugar content - so one should choose wisely. This cluster has an average calorie count of 538 and an average of 10 grams of sugar.

The second cluster, labeled “High Calorie, High Sugar Content” are items at Subway that you might want to avoid for a more health-conscious diet. These are colored green on our scatterplot. Most notably, the Footlong Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyakiis the item with the highest sugar-level. The sugar content in this single item is almost double the suggested daily sugar intake amount. This cluster has an average of 883 calories and 15 grams of sugar on average.

Finally, the last cluster is blue on the graph and is titled “Low Calorie, Low Sugar Content”. These menu items are perfect for someone who is looking to consume a meal that is light in calories, while staying below the suggested daily sugar intake. The variation in this group is key: there are salads, meat-based sandwiches, and veggie sandwiches. This cluster contains items with an average of 251 calories, and 7 grams of sugar.